No Spyware: Not just spyware but none of those funny applications that keep doing things in the background.

Linux Doesn’t need defragging: The Linux file systems work very efficiently such that it arranges data in a way that it doesn’t require defragging. to know more, read earlier post.

Linux doesn’t crash without any apparent reasons. In Linux the core operating system (kernel) is separate from the GUl (X-Window) from the applications (OpenOffice.org, etc). So even if the application crashes, the core operating system is not affected. In Windows (Microsoft prefers to call this tight integration) if the Browser crashes, it can take down the entire operating system.

Linux doesn’t crash if you accidentally pulled out your USB key/pen drive. Try this a 100 times if you don’t believe me but don’t blame me if your pen drive data gets corrupt.

Linux doesn’t require frequent re-installation: In Windows if the OS crashes, there is no easy way to recover this. Many IT support staff don’t know what to do and all they can do is re-install Windows. Which means that users applications and preferences are lost, and needs to be installed again. I haven’t seen anyone using Linux, requiring to re-install unless there is a hard drive failure. Most things in Linux can be fixed without requiring re-installation.

You can keep your operating system from your data, its designed to actually do that very easily. The benefit of this is all the users preferences can be preserved even if the OS needs to be re-installed. This can be handled by creating a separate partition for the home directory, read more.

Linux also doesn’t require rebooting when a new hardware device is added configured.

Linux doesn’t require rebooting when you change any setting or re-configure your Network.

Linux also doesn’t require rebooting when you install a new application.

Linux doesn’t require frequent rebooting. Linux runs extremely stable, even if an application crashes, there is no need to reboot the whole system, just restart that application or service.

Most importantly Linux doesn’t reboot on its own! I have had a situation where Windows updated the system and then rebooted on its own, without my knowledge. And worst, this was when I was updating my digital camera firmware.

No licensing headaches: Yes Linux is free and you don’t know need to bother about the complexing licensing of per user/per PC/per server/etc. Note: Some Linux distributions charge a yearly subscription to get the updates and patches, however this is still more simpler than the proprietary world.

Linux can read over a 100 different types of file systems. Windows is limited to its own two file systems. Well most general users may not care about this but its extremely useful is you are working in a mixed environment or you need to extract some data from a hard drive formatted on another computer.

You have access to the source code and the right to modify or fix things if you are a programmer. Many end users think this is not necessary but they will realize how important this is when their application vendor decides to discontinue support on a older version to promote a newer one.

Linux can install in logical partition or a second (slave hard drive as well)Windows can only be installed in a primary partition. Read this on some suggestions for partitioning.

Linux has less bugs than commercial software, this is one of the main reasons for its stability. Read more.

You can also share the software with your friends and its completely legal to do so. Didn’t your teacher tell you in kindergarten that you should share things with your friends? Linux and Open Source actually encourage that while if you do that in Windows its not only considered illegal but they will call you a pirate!

Linux costs less, cause not only the OS is free but the applications are also free. Plus since Linux doesn’t have a virus problem, you also save on the recurring cost of Anti-Virus software. Note: You may still have to pay for support/training but the over all running cost is low.

Both Linux and Windows has shell environment Windows (know as command prompt). The shell environments in Linux (such as bash) are more powerful and you can write entire programs using the scripting language. This is extremely useful to automate repetitive tasks such as backup.

Linux can run from a CD or can be installed on the hard drive. Windows by default doesn’t have any such option. Using live CDs such as Ubuntu/Knoppix, users can try out Linux by booting from the CD, without the need to install the operating system.

Linux is also extremely portable, it can also run off usb pen drives/portable hardrives/thumb drives and more.

Did you know that in Windows, there is built in back-door entry so US government can see you data as and when they like? Yes the US NSA has the key build into every copy of Windows. In Linux there is no such thing possible as the operating system is open source and can easily be detected and disabled. Read how this was done.

Linux has built in virtualization(XEN/KVM/VirtualBox/etc.) so you can run multiple copies of Linux or Windows simultaneously.

The Linux kernel comes shipped with large number of hardware drivers. 3000 Printers, 1000 Digital Cameras and 200 webcams were supported by Ubuntu. On Windows, a lot of hardware doesn’t work until you install the driver, this problem is worse with Vista as Microsoft doesn’t allow drivers to be installed which are not supported/certified by Microsoft. On Linux, a huge percentage of today’s common hardware works perfectly out-of-the-box.

Vendor independence: With proprietary operating system, you are dependent on the vendor who developed the operating system. With Linux you have a choice of vendors, so even if the vendor fails to give you support, you can always move to another vendor. Choice of vendors also means more competition, which means better value for money for the customer.

It won’t die or get killed like what happened with other fantastic but proprietary operating system such as OS/2, BeOS. Reason being, its open source and someone will maintain it and today there are many big companies behind and have bet huge money on Linux.

Unlike Windows, Linux doesn’t use registry. Most of the configuration is stored in plain text files, which are easy to manage/backup and transfer between systems. Registry is a pain to manage, very complex and your system configuration is stored in a proprietary format which needs special tools to open. The biggest pain with registry is when it gets corrupted, this problem is eliminated in Linux because it doesn’t use registry.

Linux is the most documented operating systems and most of these documentations are available for free. These documents are well written and explain computing concepts too.

Linux has more wider support from online forums, articles and most importantly the community. There are Linux Users groups is almost every country, city and small towns as well.

Linux community is cool they provide unconditional support and help you get started. Once you get involved into it, its like one huge family.

Linux runs on older hardware too, you don’t need to the latest and the greatest hardware. Even if you can’t run all the latest applications on your old hardware, using Linux, you can always put it to some good use.

No more hardware upgrades: Linux runs happily on older hardware and the hardware requirements don’t increase with every new version. If you have really old computers like Pentium I/III, you can still convert them to thin clients using LTSP and still use them. If you compare the hardware requirements between Ubuntu and Windows, you would notice that Ubuntu’s hardware requirements hasn’t changed for many versions.

Completely localized: As there is a strong community and the source code is available, Linux is localized into almost every language in the world. You can further customize it for your needs, you can easily do that.

Easy upgrade: Most Linux distributions makes it very easy to upgrade from one version to another.

Excellent Development platform: If you are a developer, you will like Linux. Linux has all the development tools, libraries and compilers built in. If you are Java developer or a Web developer using PHP/Perl/Rub or doing C,C++ development, you will feel at home.

Linux gives you the Freedom: Linux follows the Free Software philosophy and hence gives its users the Freedom to modify, copy and share Linux.

One cick upgrade: Most distributions can easily be upgraded from one version to another in just a few clicks. And most importantly you don’t need to spend a fortune to buy the upgrade.

No Hidden APIs. Windows many hidden or undocumented APIs which is used for unfair advantage to Microsoft. In Linux all APIs are completely open and documented. For example Microsoft specifies that everyone writing Internet application should use the Winsock API while Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn’t use the Winsock API, it uses an undocumented API allowing Internet Explorer to run faster than other browsers.

No Execute by default: By default if you download any file, it doesn’t have the execute permission, making your system more secure. The app cannot execute unless you go and change the permissions.

No write access to applications: By default users cannot install applications unless they change their permission or login as a supervisor. This ensures that any virus or malicious code cannot go and write to your application folder.

No open ports: By default most Linux distributions have all their incoming ports blocked, thereby making their Operating more secure from network attacks.

Centralised repository of applications ensures that you are downloading your applications/patches only from a known source only. The repository is digitally signed which ensures that only the right application and code can be downloaded and installed on your computer.

Centralised patching of all applications: Since your applications are installed from a centralised source, they are also patched from a single application, so each application doesn’t patch on its own. This ensures that your system is always up to date.

Faster release cycle: Many Linux distributions have a fixed release cycle of 6 months which makes it easy for them to incorporate all the latest applications, bug fixes, improvement and support for newer hardware. Windows release cycle is not predictable. takes a few years and is often delayed.

Finding the difference between 2 text files is easy! using commands such as diff

Your hard disk drive will have a longer life by not having the heads travel all over the disk doing virtual memory swaps because Linux uses far less RAM than Windows.

Desktop Features:

You are in total control. You don’t have applications that suddenly and start updating without your permission!

While both Linux and Windows have a GUI, Windows has only one default GUI. Linux is all about choice and has a option to use different type of GUIs or Window Managers as they are know as in Linux. Users can choose from something that looks like their favorite Operating System or they can choose something that’s simple and fast. Popular ones are Gnome and KDE.

Most Linux distributions come bundled with whole lot of applications such as Office Suite, Photo Editing, etc. You not only get the OS for free but you also don’t have to pay for the applications. Yes many of these open source applications such as OpenOffice.org also run on Windows but you need to find, download and install them where as there are available in most Linux distros by default.

Expanding on the previous point, many Linux distributions bundle thousands of applications (Upto 22,000 depending on which one you choose) where as Windows doesn’t bundle basic applications such a decent text editor, oh yeah there is Notepad if you consider that decent . Point is on Windows spend the time in finding them, downloading them, installing them and then trying them out or just get them along with your Linux CD/DVD.

Appstore included: Ubuntu today has a built in App store where you can download 1000’s of applications with a single click.

Linux bundles OpenOffice.org as the office suite which has built in capabilities to write documents as PDFs and Presentations as Flash. Windows requires purchasing/downloading additional software.

Faster Browsing: Browsing is not only better but faster too! The networking on Linux is faster and the browser has an option to block all the unwanted ads/pop up, there by saving on bandwidth considerably. Read this to block all the ads.

Linux saves bandwidth cost. The volume of Updates that Windows, Antivirus and similar applications do, is much more as compared the updated in Linux. So if you are paying for every MB that you download, its a big consideration.

No automatic updates: Windows Vista it setup to automatically update your system by default. In Linux it will alert you for an update but you have to choice to click and apply the update. You can setup to automatic update if you like. So you can update when you like and not when your operating system decides to update.

Linux has games too! there are some really nice games which many of the Linux distributions bundle. You may not have all the games in the world but you definitely have a huge collection of free games. Here is a list of top 100 games.

Empathy/Kopete popular IM clients on Linux are single clients that can connect to all the protocols – Facbook Chat, Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, AOL and more.

Twitter/Facebook broadcast from the desktop. With Gwibber client, you can view your social network status right from your desktop or update your status to all your accounts without logging onto each of them separately.

Cut and paste is simpler, just select and middle click on the target window and your data gets pasted. Its far quicker and easier than the way Windows does Cut and Paste. Of-course the Windows CTRL-C/CTRL-V still works on Linux for people who are new to Linux.

Multiple cut and pastes: Klipper application (default under KDE) maintains a history of your clipboard and you can use it to paste text/etc which you had cut/copied earlier. Gnome users can use Glipper.

Easy to setup a Media Center like PC. You don’t need to purchase additional software or re-install a different operating system. Read this on how to convert your existing Linux into a Media Center like PC.

Linux already has a usable 3D Desktop – Compiz. This makes it easy to switch and view multiple desktops simultaneously. It also add a nice eye candy to Linux. If you still believe Linux is only for geeks, this feature will definitely change your mind. This doesn’t require you to purchase expensive graphic cards, it very comfortably works with on board graphic card.

Graphic view of how much space your data is using. In Konqueror File Manager tool bar, there is an option to get file size view which gives you a graphical view of how much space your directories and the files within are consuming. Or in gnome you can use Disk Usage Analyzer Baobab. This is an excellent way to know where all your disk space has disappeared and makes cleanup easy.

No annoying messages like Vista keeps telling you that xyz application is trying to access your system. Vista confuses the user, Either the user will always click allow or don’t know what to do.

Easy to dual boot: Linux makes it easy for it to exist with any other operating system. If you install Linux on a system which already has Windows, Linux will not mess your Windows. Windows on the other hand messes up your Linux partition, if it finds one.

Linux Works fine if you multiple partitions, operating systems and devices. Windows gets confused with ‘extraneous’ partitions used by other operating systems and allocate drive letters to them which cannot be freed. If you have, say, 8 partitions in your hard drive, Windows will associate 8 drive letters to these partitions, reducing the number of drive letter you can use. This also limits the number of drive letters you can have to 26. In Linux you don’t have a concept of drive letters, each drive is mounted as /home, /windows.. etc.. thereby not having any limitations.

Customise your shortcut: On Linux you can associate applications to whatever shortcut you choose. On Windows, you cannot associate your beloved Firefox to key combination Win+F, for instance, because it is already associated to ‘Find’ functionality provided by Windows Explorer which you can’t change.

Linux is more accessible: Most distributions such as Ubuntu include Orca, which is a screen reader. This can be enabled before installation. With this a visually challenged person can install Linux and also use Linux on his own. In Windows, the accessibility support is limited and not available during installation. It has to be purchased and installed separately costing over US$1000 and the visually challenged person requires an assistant to install Windows and the software before he/she can use.

Cool integration between Calendar application and Desktop calendar. For example if you add an appointment into Evolution, it will show up in your Desktop Calendar in Gnome as well when you click on time.

You can have multiple work-spaces, its like having multiple desktops. Instead of having all your applications on one desktop, you can have them sorted on multiple desktop workspaces and easily switch between them. For example you can make one workspace for work, one for music, one for emails, one for browsing and so on. This can be in a grid or linearly organised.

You don’t need to create a Microsoft Live account and remember another stinking password just because you wanted to play Solitare.

Encoding compressed video files is a dream once you get ffmpeg compiled. In windows normally it costs money to get a program to encode video and often the encoded files don’t play on the device.

games made natively for Linux run faster than the same game on Windows.

Server Side features:

Linux has bundled Databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL which are extremely powerful and used in production environments. Customer doesn’t need to purchase expensive databases.

Linux is been used for super computing clusters, most of top super computers in the World use Linux. Windows just can’t scale to that level.

File system scalability: while NTFS file system can scale upto 16TB, XFS on Linux can scale upto 18 million TB! yes that bigger than what you would ever need.

Processor scalability: Linux can scale to Unlimited processors. It is already running on a single system with 2048 CPUs. Windows can’t even claim to come anywhere near that number.

You have commands to check the systems Serial Number and other hardware information. to get serial number type:dmidecode | grep “Serial Number” | head -n1 | sed -e ‘s/tSerial Number: //g’
or typedmidecode for all hardware info Read More. You can easily use this feature to extract data quickly and even write some scripts to do that.

I’ve used Ubuntu for quite some time and I love it. And I agree with you, it is very stable and free!:) The downside is just that it’s too difficult for the average computer user to switch over to linux. I myself struggled a bit trying to set up ubuntu to play my mp3s, avi, and other formats for the 1st time. The most difficult was getting the drivers for my new Nvidia graphics card to work. As a matter of fact I still am unsuccessful setting up my video card for dual monitor display. And that’s just it, linux or free distros are just not there yet. People want simplicity. People don’t want to be searching through forums or other online resource to find a way to play an mp3 or set up a graphic card. I understand that for legal reasons these formats aren’t available straight out-the-box. My point is that people overlook Linux because of its high level of difficulty to operate. I’m sure this will improve upon newer distros and eventually Windows will no longer be.

the average computer user does not install windows on there computer. The problem is, all the folks that know their way about windows think they know something about computers. The fact of the matter is, you know nothing about computers when all you do is point-click your way around. Point click engineers do not make good computer people.

So, what is the problem? The source for linux filesystems are free on the net, and most people are using windows, and still users are forced to use vfat
on an shared disk. Maybe there is no programmers that use windows, or they can’t figure out how to port it for windows?.

How about getting the software companies to make Linux versions. Yes, photoshop is arguably better than gimp, but we’re trying to get AWAY from windows. Using windows apps in Linux allows software companies to continue making linux a low priority (as they can just build it for windows and it works for both) and Windows wins because the majority of software companies will still be supporting windows. Adobe is working on linux flash player 9 so being a part of the community maybe they will get the idea. If they come over I think others (hopefully) will follow.

Games: openarena, sauerbraten, Americas Army, Tremulous, Legends, to name a few. I play three games, Halo (Windows), Battlefield (Windows)… and OpenArena (Linux). If OpenArena had more CTF servers I’d probably quit playing Halo, and I plan on getting Cedega to play Battlefield in Linux. You may not be able to play your favorite game in Linux yet but it’s definitely moving forward.

…hardly a deficiency of Linux that it can’t run programs designed for a totally different OS!
And if you think it’s hard to use, it’s been a while since you tried it. Sure, it does things differently to windows, but not harder than it. Once you’re used to a different route to accomplish something, it’s actually far easier to use. Case in point: installing stuff via apt-get is easier than installing from exe because you don’t even need to find the thing you want on the net, you just type that you want it, it gets downloaded and installed.

Because I need 1024 processors and 1,000,000TB of storage. And those precious .02 seconds it takes to hit CTRL-C could be better spent blinking, right?

Look, the point is, Linux is not “better.” It’s better for you. Windows is better for me. I don’t have a virus problem because I’m not an idiot. The main problem with Windows is it’s not idiot-proof. Run Windows, leave it on the desktop and don’t touch a thing. Don’t connect it to the internet, don’t run a single program, see how long it takes to crash. Sure, M$ might be greedy, corrupt, assholes, but that’s not what you’re debating.

I work at a WebHosting company, I switch back and forth between Windows, RedHat and K/X/Ubuntu all day long, so please don’t think I’m some narrow-minded home PC user, I do know what’s up regarding things like this. The fact is, I like them all. I’ve tried about a million distros of Linux, a few BSDs and of course, Windows/DOS. They all have something to offer and as far as I’m concerned, until Linux or Windows starts making me a cup of coffee in the morning, neither will be “better.”

As a follow up, I have OpenArena and OpenOffice running on this computer (WindowsXP Corp) right now. The whole office pretty much does. OpenArena LANs are pretty common. All new hires get a computer with OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird pre-installed. Obviously working at a web hosting company, the people who do the hiring know enough about “what’s what” to use those programs opposed to MS’ programs which on a scale like this would mean big bucks for all the software. Again, Windows isn’t the problem. Almost every single Windows crash or error can be tracked back and attributed to user error (on some level.)

Related to the point Maxim Yegorushkin makes about a single file system – this makes it easy to keep configuration(/etc, /var) and home directories in seperate partitions, and so preserved when you update your OS. Keeping your data physically separate from applications and OS on Windows is extremely awkward (impossible?)

There is a program that works as Windows API and allows loads of windows applications and games to run on Linux – it’s called WINE and it’s freely available.

There is also two commercial versions based on WINE:
Cedega – Runs games even better than WINE, has for example better support for DirectX
Crossover Office – Runs applications like MS Office, etc. even better than WINE.

The biggest issue with Linux distributions is that most of the average users have been windows trained… Very few people (if any) started using their pc’s with Linux os. Indeed most of them (including myself) first got sick of windows and then chose Linux. This is a problem because people don’t see linux for its face value but compare it to windows. Sure first time i used Linux (debian) i was like, wtf is going on here? But eventually i saw the light. Now I ‘m using Kubuntu, I ‘m very pleased with it plus i think it is great for Linux beginners as the GUI used is quite similar to windows so that the aforementioned windows trained users dont get too hard a time at first! One more thing: I have a 5yr old pc and both windows and Kubuntu installed. When using windows it takes about forever to do anything, while when using Kubuntu it is faster than my brother’s last year pc which has like triple the abilities of mine…(needless to say my brother is stuck on windows…)

“Graphic view of how much space your data is using. In Konqueror File Manger tool bar, there is an option to get file size view which gives you a graphical view of how much space your directories and the files within are consuming. This is an excellent way to know where all your disk space has disappeared and makes cleanup easy.”

Really? I must have overlooked this option. Where is located? I’ve never seen it.

People just need to get a bit of a brain and start using linux. They’re just sheep that continue to be flocked by the microsoft shepard. When will people understand that things are not only free in linux but easy to use. Especially with ubuntu’s synaptic manager. my little brother(13) could use linux now and install anything he wants. Sheep, they’re all sheep.

The main reason I am using linux more and more is that I cant possibly trust MS ( see reason #19 on the above list). Not only MS has too much power but I feel windows enslaves the user. Too many times I have seen on windows “Windows has to reboot now”…and of course the computer rebooted right away not caring if I was busy or not. Another example: I could not get ride of IE, and whenever I wanted to check my emails with the link available on msn, it would open IE instead of my default IBrowser…

This article is typical Linux propaganda full of many inconsistencies with modern Linux and Windows OS. There are many things “Windows doesn’t do” in here that Windows actually does.

It’s clear the author here has spent most of their time working in Linux and has little to no real experience with Windows. This is the problem with all these propaganda articles. They’re just that. Propaganda.

I am a developer, designer and gamer. I use Windows, Linux and Mac OS X on a daily basis. Side by side. I would not choose any other OS than Linux for our servers. But, as a daily use desktop system, I would not choose any other OS than Windows. It’s not because Windows is more capable than Linux, or that Linux is inferior. It’s purely choice. I prefer the way that Windows operates a computer. It’s simple, its efficient and I can do everything I need to do without frustration. With Linux and Mac OS X I can’t accomplish that. The argument of “well you don’t know Linux or Mac well enough” is not the point. I know all three OS’ extremely well, but each OS makes different choices in GUI usability, features and customization choices. I simply agree the most with Windows. It’s my choice. Just like many of you here have chosen Linux.

So get over yourselves and just realize it’s just a choice of personal taste. There is no “best”.

I love Linux, this article brings up a lot of good points to… but still, the majority of it is bullshit.

1 – Stop using the term “Linux” to describe (insert distribution here). I notice you say things like Firefox comes bundled with LINUX…FALSE. Only some distribution have it bundled, like Ubuntu, Linux is very bare by itself, maybe you should be more specific about what your talking about. Plus Firefox isn’t something to be proud about bundling, it uses so many resources its not even funny.

2 – Many of these points are extremely outdated! I’ll just name two, but there are more. No tabbed browsing in Windows. Bad shell-scripting in Windows.

3 – You fail to mention some really good things. Like how most distributions include a package manager that makes downloading/installing your favorite freeware that much easier. And how about mentioning the standard Hierarchical folder structure used by most distributions of Linux, it is quite superior to the way Windows files are set up.

Face the facts people, Linux is for computer savvy people and windows is made for the average computer user. I work as a computer networking specialist and we use both Windows and Redhat. Each have their ups and downs. Seriously though, I could never see the an average user learning Linux. Not to mention when I want to perform a simple task I don’t feel like typing 50 command lines when I can simply click a button twice. Also, for everyone who says windows is unstable maybe your computer just sucks. Windows XP doesn’t crash often at all. Its usually individually written programs that crash windows. Now Vista on the other hand is a whole different subject that I don’t care to defend. People might also find it interesting that i ran a test between Windows Server 2003 vs Redhat 4. Windows was able to write move and copy memory much faster than Redhat. Redhat was able to read from the HDD twice as fast and Windows was able to write to the HDD twice as fast. These results came after three seperate tests and two different benchmarking programs. Apparently people should stop assuming Linux is faster because that isn’t always the case.

I run Linux and I’m no command line genius, there is nothing complicated about Linux, just a case of changing that familiarity of whatever operating system your using now, and that doesn’t mean just Windows.

Personally after playing with Windows since 3.1 i’m tired with it, I don’t care if people don’t link Linux, i prefer it. And ultimately the Linux community are doing ok, Linux doesn’t need you.

This article is not the best pro-Linux propaganda, but still, I have to take exception to those comments that Linux is not for home users /non-techies. I have no IT quals whatsoever and am doing very nicely thank you with Ubuntu compared to the endless problems I had with Windows. I don’t need to be a techie to use it because:
A)It’s very, very easy to use compared to all the Windows OS’s I’ve experienced (3.1—>XP/XPpro).
B)It doesn’t go wrong (so I can spend my time actually using it rather than trying to fix/hack round all the bugs.
C)It’s dead easy to install/reinstall. The liveboot function is neat too, I wish Windows would do that.
So come on Techies, stop underestimating us normal people! How much easier can something *be* than apt-get?

So. I just installed Ubuntu last week. Lemme say, it took me over three days to get the monitor to display correctly (thank you nVidia). It cannot run my Lexmark printer (yet – but, hey, I’ve only invested an hour into getting it to work, I just need to give it more time, right?). I have no clue how to run the terminal. I have not taken the time to search forums to figure it out; I think it should be more intuitive. Heck, when I was a kid, I could figure out DOS with no help. Ubuntu/Linux cannot run programs that I REALLY need (ie, Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDraw, QuarkExpress). I can get around the photoshop problem with WINE. Oh, hooray, an emulator that can only run outdated versions of one of the programs I need. Windows needed to be restarted once a month, but at least it could run the programs I need. With that said; I really like what I have gotten to work in Ubuntu. AND, if I could get my software to port over, I would change. It runs really nice. If you know someone who is just learning computers and they are not tethered to some specific software, Ubuntu is a good idea. Sorry if this post sounds manic.

I’m a Linux user, I’m in Ubuntu as I type this, but I feel that this list is badly in need of some factual corrections (and a proofreader).

As has already been stated, many of the items in the list do not strictly apply to Linux. Linux is but a kernel, a good one, but a kernel nonetheless. Many items on the list apply to things outside the kernel.

For example #4, which states that “Linux doesn’t need to be defragmented.’ This actually is referring to the EXT filesystem (the default filesystem for many Linux distros, but certainly not the only one). Plus, it’s not quite 100% true. EXT formatted drives are merely more resistant to file fragmentation than FAT or NTFS, not immune. (THough a drive would need to be 90% full before fragmentation starts to occur.)

#21 is highly unlikely and in my opinion has been soundly debunked. There is a reference to NSA_key in the Windows API but it’s not a backdoor for the NSA or anyine else. (Though being closed source such backdoors are possible.)

#22, I’m not sure what you mean by “built-in virtualization.” Virtual Machines capability is provided by third-party applications in both Windows and Linux.

#26: this isn’t really a nit, more of a “did you know that…” THe registry was introduced in Windows to get RID of text-file based configurations. Way back in the 3.1 days there were .ini files scattered all over the place in Windows.

#28 is patently wrong. THere are many online communities based around Windows users and support just as there are for Linux. The difference between them is that Windows communities focus on fixing things whereas Linux communities tend to focus on doing things.

#48. Windows also offers a (basic) graphical representation of disk usage. In Windows XP and earlier, just right-click on the drive in My Computer and click properties. Plus there is a Windows port of the KDirStat program mentioned earlier called WinDirStat. Both are programs I use and they both rock!

#49. Some distributions (notably K/X/Ubuntu) do indeed have a security prompt much like the Windows Vista UAC prompt. The desktop dims and a password box locks the screen when you try to do something that requires root (Admin) privileges. The difference being that Ubuntu does it right while Vista does it annoyingly. Also, as of Ubuntu 8.10 you can decide which users can run certain admin programs without the prompt (or, alternatively, can’t) using Policy Kit.

THose are my nits and I’m sticking to them!

When you boil it all down, though, operating systems are like shoes. At first, they may be a bit uncomfortable, but that goes away after a while. Then they’re nice and comfy. You wear your shoes and I’ll wear mine. Because if the shoe fits…

On Linux you can associate applications to whatever shortcut you choose.

On Windoze, you cannot associate your beloved Firefox to key combination Win+F, for instance, because it is already associated to ‘Find’ functionality provided by Windoze Explorer. Oh well… if you think freedom is important for you… you should consider another operating system.

Windows gets confused with ‘extraneous’ partitions used by other operating systems and allocate drive letters to them which cannot be freed.

If you have, say, 8 partitions in your hard drive, Windoze will associate 8 drive letters to these partitions, reducing the number of drive letter you can use for associating networked drives (DOS command: net use) or substituted drives (DOS command: subst). It’s possible to change association of drive letters, but you will always have 8 drive letters allocated, always reducing the number of total network resources you can associate.

very Nice article ^^ I would have to say I agree with most of this, I’m normally switching around with xp, vista, ubuntu, Linuxmint and mac…I’m just surrounded by computers 😛 I think for all the windows users badgering GNu/ Linux is abit silly seeing as Linux really inst that old and it’s getting better, more supportive, more innovative every day because of Distro’s and companies that want to see Linux succeed to remove that over powering giant called Microsoft that is suffocating the computer industry really

BTW to any one that’s interested in trying GNU/ Linux ubuntu isnt the best one to try out first, Linuxmint has been built around ubuntu but has most of the things needed to make people happy ^^

I think Linux is more stable than Windows. I have Kubuntu on its own HD. What I don’t like about Linux is there are programs I can’t run on it. I use one program I have over a grand tied up in and I can’t use it on Linux. Wine won’t run it either. Linux does have its drawbacks and so does Windows. I have been trying for over a week now to install Adobe Reader. I hate the command line crap. I’m also still trying to find out how to download a program and then install it.

@DW To install programs just open up Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Centre in the latest release. Adobe reader is in the Ubuntu repos (the package filename is actually called acroread) but that doesn’t matter as you can type in ‘Adobe’ in Ubuntu Software Centre press return and it’s in the resulting list.

Add: You can have multiple workspaces to clear up the clutter form alt+tab-ing. You could also explain that having 2 or 3 applications per workspace organizes your desktop and you can for example make one workspace for work, one for music, one for emails, one for browsing and so on. Also please mention that you can organize the workspaces in a grid, not just linearly

Dude, I didn’t quite understand the 59th point. About windows messing up linux partitions. It can’t even ‘see’ it to access it. I use Gentoo and Win XP in dual boot, and there has been no such problems.

@DW
why would u try adobe reader windows version on linux? there is already an adobe reader for linux. just open cmd, and then sudo apt-get install okular, thats a special adobe-reader only built 4 kde. and if u wanna download a program thats not in the repositories, then u grab adobe-reader from adobe’s website. there is an ubuntu version. but i recommend okular. btw, to install a program, you dont need cmd. you can just open package manager and check all the programs you wanna install. search in your menu package and click on the first entry. its neater than you think.

its really an axilent artical.linux environment and its nature is quit different.so windows user can feels boring in begning.but once you comfort with linux. you would not touch windows in the future.its my challange. thanks

Please add that high availability is practically impossible on windows. If a system needs to be highly available – e.g. police call centres, banks, university systems, hospitals, councils, etc, they will use *nux.

In linux you can (and better, have) to modify the kernel to match exactely your machine (eg: processor, memory size, and all hardware on the mobo). This will speed up the system, and use less resources. In windows they don’t say there is a kernel, but you will see that they have it too (as any OS) mainly during common blue screen of death !!

Another reason: games made natively for gnu/linux run faster than the same for windows, and even some wine games run faster due to linux’s kernel. Just search youtube for comparisons… Flash games suck on linux thanks to adobe…

82. You don’t need to create a Microsoft Live account and remember another stinking password just because you wanted to play Solitare.

83. Encoding compressed video files is a dream once you get ffmpeg compiled. In windows normally it costs money to get a program to encode video and often the encoded files don’t play on the device.

83.5 Recording video from a BT878 TV tuner card just seems to be less nerve wracking on Linux instead of Windows with other stuff happening in the background.

84. Your hard disk drive will have a longer life by not having the heads travel all over the disk doing virtual memory swaps because Linux uses far less RAM than Windows.

85. You have more control over the hardware you paid for. If you wish to hear 1 bit Sigma-Delta music played over the parallel port wires, you can write a program to do so while Windows can’t do it for money. And you can also trick out the BT878 tuner card to record everything radio-bass (below 224 kHz).

If your Windows is blue-screening frequently, you probably have bad RAM. I would test using MemTest86+ (at least 3 passes on the test). If Windows is slowing down due to several tasks running, you may just be maxing out your CPU, Memory, and/or Disk IO.

Linux is not “more stable” than Windows.

Windows is *not* less reliable than Linux. That is a myth.

I have used Windows for years (several NT and non-NT versions), and have *not* found Windows to be unbelievably unreliable.

[…] its different form the redundant "linux is just better" threads. so please look over. http://cityblogger.com/archives/2007…r-than-windows but take note of #21: "Did you know that in Windows, there is built in back-door entry so US […]